Redstate

By Tim Cameron Posted in Archived — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The other night at a Chamber of Commerce event in South Carolina, U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said it was his “Constitutional Mandate” to earmark. He also said that the elimination of earmarks would “not save one dime” despite the fact that earmarks accounted for over $17.2 billion of Federal Budget last year.





Rep. Clyburn claims the U.S. Constitution mandates him to earmark, but I have to wonder what our Founding Fathers would think if they knew how Clyburn was using his earmarks.

Let’s start with the “Five Rivers Scandal”. . . .

In 2006 Congressman Clyburn set aside $145,000 for the Five Rivers Development Corp. to build a community center. According the Myrtle Beach Sun News:

Five Rivers Community Development Corp. spent $105,950 on two consultants who lobbied federal legislators for money and influence, but the nonprofit agency did not report those activities on its federal tax returns, according to a review of Georgetown-based Five Rivers' financial records by The Sun News.

Five Rivers paid $16,600 over 16 months in 2004 and 2005 to Charles Clyburn, the brother of U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, for consulting work.

About two-thirds of the $5 million Five Rivers received over the past decade was from state and federal grants.

But it doesn’t stop there. The Sun News also discovered:

Five Rivers also paid $69,653 to an architecture firm led by Charles Clyburn's son for additional work on the community center project…

… Five Rivers did not get to use the money James Clyburn appropriated because the nonprofit went out of business before its community center was built.

Clyburn’s use of federal money to benefit his family members didn’t stop their. Just this month Clyburn stepped down from the board of the International African-American Museum because his nephew’s architecture firm (the same firm from the Five Rivers scandal) was going to benefit from another federal earmark. The Charleston Post & Courier reported:

Hoping to avoid a potential conflict of interest, House Majority Leader Jim Clyburn stepped down Monday as chairman of the board of the International African American Museum, which is in the planning stages in Charleston.

Clyburn, who tucked an $800,000 earmark for the museum into the federal budget approved late last year, said he decided to resign from the board after learning Friday that his nephew, Derrick Ballard, works for one of the two architectural firms recently hired to design the $70-$80 million museum.

I’m guessing Clyburn decided to stick around on the museum’s board just long enough to make sure his family made some money off of federal tax dollars, and then got tired of going to meetings.

Maybe I’m missing something, but the last time I read the U.S. Constitution I didn’t see anywhere it says that “Members of Congress shall find sleazy ways of using federal tax dollars to get their family members a ‘piece of the action’”. But for some reason, Clyburn thinks that it his “Constitutional Mandate” to use our tax dollars to line the pockets of his family.

When you’re filling out 1040 IRS form over the next few weeks, just make sure to ask yourself how much of your money is going to the Clyburn family fund. Then ask your Congressman and Senator if they are willing to stop this type of behavior by supporting earmark reform.